Two Russians have been convicted of permanently disabling a British football fan in France at Euro 2016.
Spartak Moscow fan Pavel Kosov was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday, and Mikhail Ivkin was handed a three-year sentence. They were on trial in the French city of Marseille, accused of “gang violence with weapons, leading to permanent infirmity”.
Both men had been held in a French prison since March 2018.
The pair attacked Andrew Bache, 55, during the Euros in June 2016. Bache’s son Harry represented him in court and faced his father’s alleged assailants.
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Bache’s lawyer, Olivier Rosato, said that the attack left his client severely disabled and he can no longer bear to return to Marseille.
Witnesses to the incident say they saw Bache being caught by hooligans, and receiving three or four violent blows to the head, including while he was on the ground.
The riots in Marseille’s Old Port district lasted for several days, both before and after a match between England and Russia.
Police fired tear gas and water cannons at rival fans who were rioting around the city, a largely unsuccessful attempt to rein in violence that authorities said left several people injured. Some fans walked through the city bare-chested and with blood dripping from head wounds.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said at the time: “Once again, as over the last 30 years, an international football competition has been the scene of clashes between violent people claiming to be supporters of their national team.”
AP
